Pirates To Release Allen Webster

SATURDAY: Webster is indeed heading abroad — the Samsung Lions of the KBO have announced that they’ve signed him along with righty reliever Collin Balester. Sung Min Kim of River Ave. Blues initially tweeted that Webster was headed to Korea. The 29-year-old Balester has a 5.47 ERA, 7.0 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 in parts of five big-league seasons with Washington, Detroit and Cincinnati. He made 15 appearances with the Reds in 2015.

Tim Williams of PiratesProspects.com first noted the unexpected change in Webster’s status on the Bucs’ transactions page, explaining that Pittsburgh did not seem to have an immediate need for a 40-man spot. That could mean that Webster is headed for an opportunity with an Asian club, as the Bucs had previously seemed set to give a chance this spring to the out-of-options right-hander.

Webster, 25, has long been seen as a rising power arm, but he’s struggled to make good on his promise in the majors. In 120 1/3 MLB frames over the past three years, he owns a 5.81 ERA with 5.7 K/9 and 4.9 BB/9.

While he had previously put up strong numbers in the upper minors, Webster was bombed to the tune of a 8.18 ERA over 15 Triple-A starts last year. It’s worth noting, too, that Webster’s average fastball velocity (in the majors) dropped to 91.5 mph in 2015 after clocking in at over 94 in his first season of MLB action.

The Miley for Webster/de la Rosa trade represents the other side of the trading prospects for proven MLB scope. Prospects are nice until they fizzle out, though no one wants to be on the wrong end of the exception.

Which isn’t to say that Miley turned out great, but he was still a cheap starter that got us Carson Smith. All for peanuts.

De La Rosa still has a decent chance, he just needs to find some command within the strike zone, get moved to the pen for good and scrap the poor slider he throws. His FB might be on the straight side, but it’s already been seen with Boston and LA that when he’s used in 1inning outings, he’s at 97-99mph and the Pedro Martinez type change is about as good as there is going in the game right now. just use that slider as a once in a great while show me, not often like he is and get some command taught to this guy.

He’s got late inning, power reliever written all over him.and not afraid to throw inside. Webster was just a flop. Scared to throw inside, you could almost see his knees shaking when he took the mound. Hard to pitch when scared.

Fair, but without the Dodgers trade, we wouldn’t have the World Series.

Yes, following trade chains to justify moves is not a great idea. But the fact that you had to follow it back to the 2011 offseason, past a WS victory, to find where it went sour for the Sox is also telling.

This is exactly the kind of guy the Yankees (and I guess any team, really) need to be all over. Sign him, invite him to spring training and allow him to compete and then stash him in AAA. Maybe they can help him find his control the same way they helped Dellin Betances.. If, at best he can be a hard throwing bullpen arm slash 7th starter, then he would be worth it.

“Sometimes” is a vast understatement. If you Google success rates of MLB top prospects, you’ll find some interesting facts. While the probability of success of top prospects has definitely increased over the last 20 years or so, scouting is still a long way from an exact science. Something around 70% of prospects still fail, Not until you are a top 20 prospect – and I’m talking overall in the league, not on an individual team – do the odds go in the player’s favor or having success. which further stands behind the idea of when a team is really “in it to win it” they should by no means be hoarding their prospects and refusing to trade someone if you’re getting a know quantity with a proven track record at the MLB level in return (i.e., the Dodgers’ refusal to trade guys like Pederson and Urias for someone like Hamels was pretty dumb on their part – especially now after seeing Greinke jet for a division rival, and Pederson and Urias’ stocks have since dropped). If you’re a rebuilding team, it makes sense to collect as many prospects as you can, but once you’re a contender, a smart team would/should be more willing to trade away talent for a sure thing.